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I think this is only one part of the story for them. If 70% of their country is un-banked, many transactions are probably in cash, and there probably are a lot

I think this is only one part of the story for them. If 70% of their country is un-banked, many transactions are probably in cash, and there probably are a lot of undeclared sales and income that is not being taxed. If they can really get their population using tools that would make it easier for the government to collect taxes, make it easier for tourists to visit and spend money, etc then the mining rewards are only one small part of their plan. Of course none of this really needs to happen with crypto, they certainly could solve these problems in other ways, but I can't really blame them for trying this out.

sanderjd 5y ago
Even if crypto is a good solution for all this, bitcoin is a bad one.
- defgeneric 5y ago
  I understand this argument, but if I had to choose right now which coin would be the best for my country, I would still go with Bitcoin. You don't get to choose which coin has the most backing, or the most diverse set of players from around the world.
  - sanderjd 5y ago
    But those are not important metrics for a legal tender currency. Bitcoin is a fine deflationary asset but a very bad currency.
- charlesdm 5y ago
  Maybe. But it is better than the alternative? It's the quickest solution. Have a look at what happened when Venezuela ended up launching the Petro.
  - sanderjd 5y ago
    There are other possibilities between poorly executing a bespoke cryptocurrency and using bitcoin even though it's not a good currency. There are options that already exist which have low volatility, low transaction costs, and don't require injecting more and more energy for security. If those options don't seem mature enough (they do to me, but I dunno, maybe they're not), then a good option would be to wait.
adrianN 5y ago
If taxing and replacing cash transactions were the main goals, they should maybe use GNU Taler instead of bitcoin.

sanderjd 5y ago

Even if crypto is a good solution for all this, bitcoin is a bad one.

defgeneric 5y ago
I understand this argument, but if I had to choose right now which coin would be the best for my country, I would still go with Bitcoin. You don't get to choose which coin has the most backing, or the most diverse set of players from around the world.
- sanderjd 5y ago
  But those are not important metrics for a legal tender currency. Bitcoin is a fine deflationary asset but a very bad currency.
charlesdm 5y ago
Maybe. But it is better than the alternative? It's the quickest solution. Have a look at what happened when Venezuela ended up launching the Petro.
- sanderjd 5y ago
  There are other possibilities between poorly executing a bespoke cryptocurrency and using bitcoin even though it's not a good currency. There are options that already exist which have low volatility, low transaction costs, and don't require injecting more and more energy for security. If those options don't seem mature enough (they do to me, but I dunno, maybe they're not), then a good option would be to wait.

adrianN 5y ago

If taxing and replacing cash transactions were the main goals, they should maybe use GNU Taler instead of bitcoin.